Amersham, to see Mr. Drake’s very noble seat. He has some of the tallest trees in England; two particularly fine, a beech and an ash, that are as straight as the mast of a ship, and the former several years ago was 112 feet high to the top of the branches. It is now much higher of course.
“Mr. Drake has a few good pictures, particularly four very fine by Vernet, as Sir Joshua Eeynolds said. They were done in the early part of his life, as he observed, with great care, and in his opinion were worth 500l. apiece. Vernet is still alive and very old. All his later works, in consequence of the great business he has had and his great age, were done very carelessly; yet for these latter he has received a great price; for the former a very moderate one.
“There was a portrait here of Lord Chancellor Hatton, said in the Catalogue to be done by Jameson, the Scotch Vandyke; but this must be a mistake, for Jameson was born in 1586, and Hatton died in 1591. Possibly however it might be a copy by Jameson.
“There was also a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, said to be done by Hilliard, which by no means qualified the high praises given him by his contemporaries. Like most of the other portraits of the queen, this has not the least shade to the face, and her hair is quite red.
“We dined this day at Hall-barn, as it is now called, though Dr. Johnson, in his life of Waller, calls it Hill-barn, and I took another look at Waller’s portraits. I did not before observe, that on that by
